The Steam Big Picture Page has word that the Windows beta for this new mode is now underway. "PC gaming continues to be the leading edge of entertainment, whether it's social gaming, MMOs, graphics hardware, free-to-play, or competitive gaming," said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. "With Big Picture for Steam, we are trying to do our part to give customers and developers what they want - their games, everywhere, optimized for the environment in which they are playing."

John wrote on Sep 12, 2012, 10:47:It's funny that they say, "With Big Picture for Steam, we are trying to do our part to give customers and developers what they want - their games, everywhere, optimized for the environment in which they are playing." ..yet it doesn't even support WinXP. Sure, it's an old OS now but I bet there are many still using it. I will just be upgrading to Win7 this year when I upgrade my PC hardware.

It's not old, it's ancient.

People complain when companies cut features because not enough people can run them - "I paid $500 for this graphics card I should be able to use it for something awesome!" but also complain when companies cut the cord on configurations too archaic to survive - "why don't you have support for my serial bus powered Gravis gamepad!?"

It's funny that they say, "With Big Picture for Steam, we are trying to do our part to give customers and developers what they want - their games, everywhere, optimized for the environment in which they are playing." ..yet it doesn't even support WinXP. Sure, it's an old OS now but I bet there are many still using it. I will just be upgrading to Win7 this year when I upgrade my PC hardware.

Of course You can play BF3 online on 42" LCD while seating on a couch with KB+M. I do it on a regular basis CIV5 or Shogun - why not? Works for me at least. De gustibus...Anyway - kudos to Valve for bringing it, it won't hurt anyone, it's just like an optional skin for Windows Media Player. They should make it switchable at will.For me it looks like just another step before showing us the Holy Grail - "STEAMBOX".HL3 a STEAMBOX exclusive?

Crustacean Soup wrote on Sep 10, 2012, 21:03:This is awesome right here. Games just need to support it, like Skyrim for instance, which still needs a mouse to get through the launcher.

Then get a wireless mouse. Seriously, I like Big Picture and all but I have a bad feeling about giving companies more of a reason to release crappy consolized ports.

No. I want controller support. Evidently, Valve figures others do as well, since there's this whole Big Picture mode right here. I don't have any bad feelings about giving companies more of a reason to make my Xbox 360 completely obsolete.

I've gamed on the couch using a wireless mouse; it's inferior to using a controller in that situation. It's less comfortable, it's far less ergonomic. If I have to use a mouse/keyboard, I'm using them at a desk; if I'm gaming on the couch, I'm using a controller. I'm not about to replace desk PC gaming with couch PC gaming (strategy games on a couch? Multiplayer FPSs? Hah), it's more about replacing couch console gaming with couch PC gaming.

Consoles haven't killed traditional PC gaming yet, and I really doubt TV-friendly interfaces will either. I don't care in any case, I'm just going to buy the games I want to buy and play them the way I want to play them.

Nope, this isn't OnLive or streaming of any sort. This is simply a new pretty UI for Steam that is optimized to run on your TV with controller instead of a mouse/keyboard. It comes with a web-browser and a few other features. Its all running off your PC, its just a UI change to steam.

Apparently you can get it to appear by running Steam with -dev commandline arg then using the install_folder_ui command. It's in the beta client update. Used space sorts horribly though. It sorts by text rather than value.

So it's obviously still in testing but it appears to be a major feature coming soon.

Apparently you can get it to appear by running Steam with -dev commandline arg then using the install_folder_ui command. It's in the beta client update. Used space sorts horribly though. It sorts by text rather than value.

So it's obviously still in testing but it appears to be a major feature coming soon.

Prez wrote on Sep 11, 2012, 02:31:Personally I think this has the potential to be huge. One of the things I keep hearing from console gamers (many of whom are ex-pc gamers) is that they prefer playing their games on a TV sitting on a couch. There are still a lot of tweaks that need to be made and further things that need to be implemented before it is ready for primetime, but if done correctly this could be the move that eliminates that complaint.

For the time being, personally I want to stick to my monitor, but 'Big Picture' coupled with Valve's own PC might be the fresh new angle of playing PC games that gets a whole lot more people playing in the PC space. A bigger audience means more developers making PC games which can only be a good thing.

Kudos to Valve for continuing to try new and exciting things to advance our favorite gaming platform. Even if Big Picture or the new 'Steam PC' ends up a dud, at least they are making serious attempts at advancing the platform while other devs and publishers once dedicated to the PC run to console-land.

The two issues are still that the games don't have UIs for big screen, and the entire cost issue. Yes, I know, for lots of people there is no cost issue because they already have the computer near the TV, or because they have plenty of money to burn, or because they're smart enough to build a cheap PC with an old graphics card that can still run most games, but that's not most of the general population.

Most of the general population is cheap, poor and lazy. They have exactly 1 computer and it's a Dell or Mac with a shitty integrated graphics card purchased from Best Buy. They'll stick with consoles until replacing them with a new game changing form factor. It absolutelyw on't be a desktop.

Personally I think this has the potential to be huge. One of the things I keep hearing from console gamers (many of whom are ex-pc gamers) is that they prefer playing their games on a TV sitting on a couch. There are still a lot of tweaks that need to be made and further things that need to be implemented before it is ready for primetime, but if done correctly this could be the move that eliminates that complaint.

For the time being, personally I want to stick to my monitor, but 'Big Picture' coupled with Valve's own PC might be the fresh new angle of playing PC games that gets a whole lot more people playing in the PC space. A bigger audience means more developers making PC games which can only be a good thing.

Kudos to Valve for continuing to try new and exciting things to advance our favorite gaming platform. Even if Big Picture or the new 'Steam PC' ends up a dud, at least they are making serious attempts at advancing the platform while other devs and publishers once dedicated to the PC run to console-land.

This comment was edited on Sep 11, 2012, 06:09.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi